Beef Tacos

Sometimes you have to have taco night. Around here that means ground beef tacos in hard shells from a box with bowls of only the most basic toppings: lettuce, tomato, salsa, cheese, avocado. It also means that everyone, everyone will be eating dinner, no fuss, no complaining and no rooting around in the kitchen 30 minutes later because of rumbling tummies.

I love taco night, too, because it's so familiar that it doesn't require 100 percent of my attention to come out right. We had guests last night, so I was able to assemble the meal while chatting. All I had to do was cook half a chopped onion in oil, then brown some ground beef (we had about 1½ pounds for 6 people). Once it was cooked I added cumin, salt, oregano and ancho chile powder along with some water (less that ¼ cup). Boiled that a bit while I warmed the shells according to the package directions. Put out the ground beef, warmed shells and other toppings and let everyone build their own.

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Another easy one for me is chili, which takes a lot of the same toppings (no lettuce) and this antipasto platter is one I turn to in a pinch, too: